金沙开户注册官网:Ancient lakes show when eukaryotic life left the sea

2019-03-07 02:02:20

POOLS of water on land were a lot livelier 1 billion years ago than previously thought. It is generally assumed that life began in the ocean around 3.8 billion years ago, then moved onto land. Until now, there had been little evidence to suggest this landward migration happened before half a billion years ago. The discovery of eukaryote cells in 1-billion-year-old lake sediment looks set to change that. Paul Strother at Boston College in Weston, Massachusetts, and colleagues discovered cyst-like bubbles made of organic matter in 1 to 1.2-billion-year-old lake deposits. The bubbles were packed full of fossilised cells,